


2 Years Late

by magicvoidbouquet



Series: 2 Years Late [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mild Language, Multi, Polyamory, References to Depression, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-25
Packaged: 2018-09-01 12:57:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8625295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicvoidbouquet/pseuds/magicvoidbouquet
Summary: It's been two years since Keith left, and Lance can't handle being alone anymore. He's changed, but maybe not for the better. Without Keith, he feels lost and alone, but how do you get back the one that got away when he's already with Mr. Right?





	1. Akira K

Lance rested his chin on his folded arms and stared into the fishbowl in front of him. He never thought he’d find himself actually owning a fish, but it just looked so lonely in the tank at the pet store all by itself and… Who was he kidding? He was the lonely one. He’d gone in looking for a dog to keep him company, but he didn’t know the first thing about pet care, so the nice clerk pointed him to the goldfish because apparently they’re “low maintenance and good for first-time pet owners”.

Whatever. 

He’d even named the stupid thing because it was supposed to help him bond with it. The clerk had sloppily written ‘Akira K’ on a piece of masking tape that she stuck to the small travel container after she asked Lance what he wanted to name it. 

Honestly, all of it felt so stupid, and he didn’t feel any less alone. He felt exactly the same as he had before, but now he had a fish to be responsible for.

“I bet you think I’m pretty selfish for thinking a goldfish would fix all of my problems,” he sighed heavily. The fish didn’t respond, of course, because fish can’t talk and it felt ridiculous to act like he could even hold a conversation with the thing. Pushing back from the table, he decided he might as well go get something to eat instead of wallowing in his self-pity.

*****

Lance didn’t come shuffling out of his bedroom the next morning until the sun was bright enough that even the blinds couldn’t keep it out. Saturday meant no classes, no responsibilities, and no reason to wake up before noon-

Except his fish needed to be fed. 

Scrambling, he grabbed the bottle of fish food off the counter and dumped the entire thing into the tank without thinking about it. It took all of 30 seconds for it to register that he’d just put an entirely full bottle of fish food. While Akira K was perfectly happy to gorge himself (or herself, how do you tell gender on a fish?), Lance was grabbing a spoon and frantically trying to remove as much of the soggy food flakes as possible. Grumbling curses, he chucked the bottle into the trashcan and rinsed off the spoon. He’d have to go back to the pet store and make the walk of shame to buy another container of fish flakes for tomorrow.

He poured himself a bowl of cereal and dropped it onto the table in front of his fish and flopped down into the chair to angrily shovel food into his mouth for the first time in twelve hours.

*****

Sunday is the day for sleeping off that inordinate amount of booze you drank on Saturday night in an effort to forget how goddamn miserable you are. Lance didn’t roust himself up out of bed until mid-afternoon, shuffling into the kitchen in just his underwear and a robe. He blinked blearily at the fishbowl on the table, rubbing his eyes to clear the sleep. There was a post-it stuck to the side, and it took a minute of squinting at it for the writing to make any sense to his exhausted brain.

_I fed your fish for you. There’s aspirin on the counter for you when you get up. Had to go work on a group project, so I won’t be back til later. See you tonight –Hunk_

As far as roommates go, Lance would argue that Hunk is the best ever. He set the note back on the table, shuffling over to see a bottle of aspirin and glass of water sitting on the counter waiting for him. Tossing back two, he took a deep breath and looked over at his fish. 

“Yeah, you’re right,” he sighed, “I am pretty damn selfish.” The only response from Akira K was a couple of bubbles that rose to the surface with a half-hearted little pop. 

*****

  
Lance fed his fish and went to class and work and did his homework and…

The week passed like all weeks pass. 

“Guess what?!” Pidge exclaimed as they burst through his bed, startling Lance so badly he scattered all of his homework papers and nearly fell out of bed.

“Have you ever heard of knocking?” Lance groaned miserably as he tried to gather up his work. He’d buried himself in class for the past two years to keep himself busy, and it turned out it would pay off with early graduation.

“Yes,” Pidge confirmed offhandedly before continuing with their original spiel, “I got my grad school acceptance letter today!” They waved a large white envelope in the air for good measure to emphasize their point. Lance’s expression lit up immediately. Pidge had been waiting anxiously for months to hear whether they would be accepted into the graduate program at their university. Of course, Hunk and Lance both knew they would get in, but that didn’t really ease the poor kid’s worry much.

“Pidge, that’s great! Congratulations,” Lance beamed proudly. “Have you told the big guy yet?”

“Yeah, he’s gone to the corner store to buy celebratory vodka and try to get his hands on some cheap champagne,” they nodded with fervent excitement.

“Well, then let’s celebrate,” Lance grinned. He didn’t need to be given a reason to get piss drunk on a Friday night, but it’s nice to have a decent explanation. He threw his books aside and grabbed his phone, checking to make sure there was nothing that needed answering before he couldn’t type straight. The nice thing about living with your only two friends is that you don’t really get a whole lot of messages to respond to when toasted because they’re probably in the same room with you and just as wasted.

It took all of two hours for them to get completely trashed. Between the vodka shots and the awful champagne Hunk managed to get hands on, the three of them were rosy cheeked and giggling like schoolgirls by midnight.

“I bought a fucking fish, you guys,” Lance cackled. “Like, why the hell would I even want a fish? I’ll tell ya why – cause…cause I miss Keith!”

“What? La-ance,” Pidge droned. 

“Hasn’t it been, like, two years?” Hunk asked, devolving into a fit of laughter for some reason.

“Guys, guys, guys…” Lance’s speech was slurred at best, and it wasn’t helped by the fact that he kept laughing. “Keith was the one, guys. I’m gonna marry him one day.” They all started laughing at that point.

Lance started to sober up around 3:00 AM when the bottle was empty and Pidge was passed out on the couch snoring. He and Hunk had a small, half-drunk heart-to-heart about the fish and Keith, and it just left him feeling like he needed a moment alone to figure some stuff out.

He looked down at his phone. Yesterday was the two-year anniversary of their breakup, and it had been the one week anniversary of his life as a goldfish parent. Lance knew he wasn’t like he used to be anymore. Back then he had been clingy and narcissistic, and honestly he didn’t blame Keith for walking away when he’d been borderline abusive. When they were good, they were good, but when they were bad, damn they were bad. Keith, for all of his brooding moments, had been so damn good, and he’d thrown that all away just so he could be a self-centered asshole. 

Unlocking his phone, he started typing out a text message before he could sober up completely and think better of it.

_TO: Keith Kogane  
I know I’m two years late, but shit I really miss you…_

  
  


_Message Sent._

  
  
  



	2. Rainy Day Romance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Keith and Lance are forced to talk by sharing an umbrella, things take a turn for the romantic pretty fast. What started out as a stroll through the gardens after class soon becomes their first date and their fondest memory.

**3 Years Ago...**

Lance remembered exactly when he first met Keith – it was a rainy Friday on campus and he’d forgotten his umbrella, but Keith had offered to share with him despite being almost complete strangers. The two of them had crossed paths in their classes since they were both aerospace engineering majors (Keith would always interject that he was minoring in astrophysics in case you forgot). That walk in the rain was the first time they’d actually spoken, though. Lance was quietly competitive with Keith in class, always trying to beat him to the answer or do better on exams. He’d never really considered his obsession with the pretty guy that sat a few rows in front of him until he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him as they tried to stay dry under an umbrella really only meant for one person. Still, they agreed the weather couldn’t get much better than the cold rain that pattered threateningly on the umbrella over their heads, and Lance realized he had a thing for Keith.

“What are you doing after class?” Keith asked suddenly, just as they reached the main engineering building on campus. 

Lance hesitated for a moment, unsure why Lance would be asking him that. “Nothing, really,” he shrugged. He was trying desperately to look cool in front of the really cute guy from class that he’d spent the entire semester competing with just because he hadn’t realized he had a crush.

“Would you like to go for a walk?” Keith asked coolly, but his nervous smile gave away the tension he was hiding. Lance was about ready to die because of that little smile that made him look stupidly, sweetly innocent. For a long moment, he didn’t even notice he was just staring at Keith without having responded. 

“Y-Yeah,” he nodded, grinning widely. “I’d like that a lot.”

*****

They left class together, strolling along slowly together as they talked. The rain had let up while their professor droned on about the importance of winglets in reducing stress on the wings of planes. As they walked to the city gardens close to campus, Keith couldn’t help but feel like flowers were growing beneath their feet with each step forward.

“I guess I’ll come clean,” Lance said, laughing nervously.

“About what?” Keith looked at him, his confusion written clearly across his perfect face.

“About you…and how I feel about you. I’ve had this whole competitive thing with you since our intro classes. I was trying to get you to notice me.”

“I wasn’t competing with you,” Keith said frankly. He blinked at Lance, clearly not understanding what he meant.

Lance groaned as he realized he’d have to spell it out for Keith. He hated that sort of thing because he just generally sucked at it. He wanted to cling to Keith’s shirt and plead with him to just fucking think about it for a moment and try to get what he was saying. “I was trying to get you to notice me because I have a thing for you. Y’know, like a crush?”

“Oh.” Keith said softly, and there was a long pause. Lance was about ready to rip his own hair out because there was no real reaction to it. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and tried not to mimic a balloon deflating with sadness. An uncertain silence settled between them, but Keith still walked close enough to Lance that their shoulders kept brushing. 

He didn’t know how much time passed as they walked like that, but finally he looked up from his feet and glanced over at Keith, “Do you think you could love me?” The memory gets fuzzy around there for both of them, but they both remembered it as their first date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family - blood or found - or at least friends to keep you company. And on this Black Friday, may your wallets be full, your bank accounts never overdraw, and all your favourite stores have amazing sales! 
> 
> As a holiday present, chapters 2 and 3 are coming back to back for you to read. Chapter 4 will be out next week sometime. Enjoy!


	3. "I normally wouldn't say this, but..."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's 3AM, and the last thing Keith expects as he lays awake is a seemingly apologetic text message (or several) from his ex-boyfriend. With his boyfriend in bed asleep next to him, he has to make a choice of whether or not to give his ex a chance to make peace, and whether or not he even wants to make peace with Lance in the first place.

Keith knew he should have been asleep; Shiro was asleep next to him curled around a pillow and dead to the world. He looked at the clock – the numbers 3:12 AM glaring at him in angry red – and sighed heavily. A minute later, his phone lit up silently with a text message. It’s not like he was sleeping anyway, so he figured he might as well look at it.

The last thing Keith expected was a text from Lance. It had been months since he last made contact, and after a few messages with no answer, he’d given up and left well enough alone. At least, it seemed that way. Nothing good happens after midnight, as Keith’s mother would have said to him. She was right, as mothers generally are.

_FROM: Lance McClain  
I know I’m two years late, but shit I really miss you…_

_FROM: Lance McClain  
I bought a goldfish. His name is Akira K. and he tells me I’ve been selfish_

_FROM: Lance McClain  
I know that I’m too tired to be staying up this late, and I normally wouldn’t say this, but… _

_FROM: Lance McClain  
I know I’m two years late, but did you really have to go?_

Keith stared at the screen for a long time. The texts came in such quick succession, he had to go back and reread them again just to try and follow what Lance was saying. Sure, he’d begged him not to leave, and he’d begged him to come back, but asking if he’d really had to go was new. He laid there in silence for a long moment as he tried to figure out how to respond, or if he should respond at all.

_FROM: Lance McClain  
I normally wouldn’t do this, but I’ve cleaned up my act. I’m not like I used to be and I wish you’d take me back._

He knew Lance probably wasn’t sober as he typed out those successive text messages and sent them, but somehow that didn’t feel like it mattered. What mattered was what he was saying, the whole realization that he’d been selfish and he wished that Keith hadn’t left and… Nothing good happens after midnight. He’d left because Lance was a self-centered ass that never put anything before himself, and frankly it stopped being cute really fast. They were together a little over a year before Keith had thrown in the towel and walked away from their relationship. 

Sighing heavily, he typed out a message:

_TO: Lance McClain  
I know you’re two years late, and…shit, I’m nothing like that year. You already know this, but there’s somebody I love. You only text me when you’re not the one I’m thinking of…_

His phone screen darkened after the message sent, and he took a deep breath. Settling the device against his chest, he stared up at the ceiling and waited. The five minutes between when Keith sent the message and when Lance replied felt like centuries were passing.

_FROM: Lance McClain  
Can we just talk? Please, Keith…?_

Reading the text message with Lance’s quiet, pleading voice in his head made a lump form uncomfortably in his throat. Shiro distracted him as he turned over in bed with a grumble as the light from the phone hit his face, wrapping his arm around Keith’s midsection and mumbling, “E’rything okay?”

“Yeah,” Keith barely whispered, unable to talk past the knot in his throat, “Go back to sleep.” The only response from his partner was a small, sleepy hum of agreement before he turned back over on his side.

_TO: Lance McClain  
Okay._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays, readers! Chapter 4 will be up at some point next week depending on my schedule. Expect it by next Saturday, though!
> 
> I am still looking for a beta reader, so let me know if you're interested.

**Author's Note:**

> The current tags list is based on what I already have written or planned for sure. It is subject to change and grow as the fic progresses, so keep an eye on it. This part of the series will be safe for work aside from some mild language and fluff, and any NSFW content will be posted separately in the series. The chapter it pertains to will have a link at the bottom to the NSFW piece to make navigation easier.
> 
> It's coming up on finals for me, so please be patient if updates take a while right now. I'll be trying to post everything I can before finals, and then I will finish up while on break. Updates may come several chapters at a time. Apologies for the sporadic update schedule for right now.
> 
> I do not currently have a beta reader for this fic, so if you're interested in being a part of what happens behind the scenes writing this work, leave a comment and I'll get in touch with you!


End file.
